YouTuber Figures Out How To Use Xbox's Adaptive Controller With Nintendo Switch

A YouTuber has figured out how to make the Xbox Adaptive Controller work on the Nintendo Switch.

Since people with disabilities come in many different shapes and sizes, no single game controller can meet their needs. Some people don’t have arms and so use controllers with their feet, while others are paralyzed and use controllers operated with their mouths or tongues to provide input. Some are missing fingers and so use more standard controllers but with different button layouts or just simple joysticks.

Making a single controller that fits everyone’s needs is pretty much impossible, so Microsoft didn’t do that. Instead, they made a controller that was more like a hub than a controller, able to take all the myriad different controllers that the disabled use and make them work from a single device.

This had never been done before, and it was a real game changer for gamers with disabilities. Suddenly they didn’t have to muck about with getting their different controllers to work--they could just plug them all into the Microsoft Xbox Adaptive Controller and map the buttons to whatever they wanted.

For the first time, gaming as a disabled person got a whole lot easier.

Microsoft won a bunch of awards for the Adaptive Controller, including Outstanding Contribution Award at the 2018 Golden Joysticks, and Time Magazine even called it one of the most important inventions of 2018.

But it only works on Xbox and Windows PCs. If you’re on a PlayStation 4 or a Nintendo Switch, you’re out of luck.

Or maybe not. A YouTuber by the name of Vince has managed to get the Adaptive Controller working on the Nintendo Switch thanks to an adapter that’s normally for PS4 or Xbox controllers.

First, you’ll need to get the Magic NS adapter. This will convert the signal from the Adaptive Controller into something the Switch can understand. Then using the USB-C on-the-go cable, plug in the Adaptive Controller to the Switch and ensure that the Switch’s Pro Controller settings are “On” in the systems menu.

From there, it’s mostly a matter of plugging in the various other buttons, switches, and joysticks to work on the Adaptive Controller. You’ll probably need to do some calibrating in the Switch’s systems menus as shown in the video, and it’ll probably void your warranty, but it works. Not as well as it does on the Xbox, but it works.

Maybe Nintendo will come out with their own Adaptive Controller, but until then, disabled gamers that want to play Mario Kart can do so thanks to the above hack.